“Why do we have rules?” Mrs. Reid asked when everyone settled down. She glanced around. “At college even. Why does the school have rules?” She waved us on when no one answered. “This is interactive. Yes, this is a lecture, but I promise you there is an important point and you all need to learn a hard lesson. So I ask again—why do we have rules here?”
“To keep order,” someone called out.
Another woman snorted. “Control. To control us.”
Mrs. Reid pointed between them. “Those things aren’t mutually exclusive but yes, both. Maybe not control in the way you’re thinking but learning to control your magic. We all know people who need to learn to control their behavior.” She nodded when the woman seemed to concede that.
“To teach us what we need to know when we’re on our own,” I called out.
“All are correct and yes, this is where you learn about how to behave in society with a safety net,” she agreed, giving us a moment with that. “Why do we have laws?”
That second woman snorted again. “Control. To control us.”
Several people chuckled and even Mrs. Reid smirked. “Again, you’re not wrong, but you make it sound more like someone’s got your gaming controller or you’re a robot.”
“To protect people,” I said.
“That’s not wrong,” she accepted, still glancing around.
“To keep society from anarchy,” someone else offered.
“True.”
“So people know where the lines are,” a woman to my left offered.
“Now we’re on the right path,” Mrs. Reid praised, pointing to her.
“Justice,” Kate said from next to me, her voice cracking. “So there’s justice in our society.”
“Yes, yes, that’s why, and clearly that system has failed you,” Mrs. Reid whispered, her face falling. “I’m so very sorry it did.”
Kate just nodded, focusing on her food like she wanted to leave it alone.
“How many of you have broken rules?” Mrs. Reid asked the class. She chuckled when no one said anything and raised her own hand. “Come on, we’ve all done it. How about laws?” She lowered her hand and raised it again. “We all have. Just be honest about it or you won’t learn the lesson I’m here for today.”
“I’ve broken rules but not laws,” someone called out, most people seeming to agree with that.
Mrs. Reid focused on her. “You’ve never gone over the speed limit?” She chuckled when people flinched. “I do. I hate obeying stop signs that are in stupid locations when no one is around. It’s annoying to have to drive places for our human personas and then I have to take more time for stop signs put into place for people who are abysmal drivers.
“So yes, I’ve rolled through many a stop sign and it drives my mate nuts.” She smiled when she received some polite chuckles. “We all break the law as a society. We use magic to lie about our income to our different governments so we can fund the government they have no idea about. We’d all be locked up foryearsfor that.”
“You’re going to teach us what laws are okay to break and which aren’t?” someone asked.
“No, that would get me in trouble, and I prefer not to be in trouble,” Mrs. Reid teased. “I’m here to teach you a lesson inmoralityand hope you learn from it to become better witches. Because sometimes the rules and laws don’t give us the justice we deserve.”
She was definitely right about that.
Mrs. Reid met my gaze. “I’m sorry to call you out like this but please, stand up.”
So it was about me? Shit.
I swallowed loudly and did as she said, turning and facing so I saw the most people possible.
“Now that you’ve all seen the press conference—and don’t lie that you don’t know what I’m talking about. This place gossips faster than most workplaces and cliches. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve heard enough to know the truth.”
She was staring out at the witches when I glanced at her, wondering where she was going with this.
“So how unfairly was she treated? You all know how Bevin was wronged now. Repeatedly and—”
